NEWS DESK
Flag protocols fly at half-mast
THE Uluru Statement from the Heart unveiled at Morven manor Retirement Village with, from left, Joyce Toth, Moz Lucas, Maureen Donelly, Val Campbell, Wally Sharman. Picture: Lloyd Lobbe
Retirees take heart from call for change RESIDENTS at Morven Manor Retirement Village, Mornington have welcomed the installation of a plaque featuring the Uluru Statement from the Heart. With an average age of 75, the group of residents want to see the kind of changes First Nations people are calling for in the Statement from the Heart. None of the group received education at school about Australia’s past treatment of Aboriginal people. “What happened in the past is shameful,” village resident Joyce Toth, 94, said.
Another resident, Maureen Donelly, said she remembered visiting Mooroopna with her grandfather in the 1950s. “Even as a small child I could see on the faces of the Aboriginal people a terrible sadness,” she said. “Now I understand the reason for the deep grief I sensed as a child.” Three other residents, Wally Sharman, Val Campbell and Moz Lucas have worked with First Nations people. Mr Sharman voiced their concern that many non-Indigenous people did not know what happened when the Bunurong/Boon Wurrung people’s
land on the Mornington Peninsula was taken by white settlers, threatening their survival. The plaque features wording from the Uluru Statement from the Heart with detail of Wurundjeri artist Mandy Nicholson’s artwork, Cycle of Knowledge, commissioned by the City of Melbourne in 2000. Ms Donelly said the Uluru Statement from the Heart calls on non-Indigenous Australians to symbolically “walk with” First Nations people for a voice enshrined in the constitution, and for truth-telling and treaty.
MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire councillors are being asked to fly the Aboriginal flag at half-mast on shire buildings on Australia Day next year, 26 January. Cr Sarah Race says the gesture would “recognise our First Nations people and their sorrow on this day [26 January was declared a day of mourning by Aboriginal Australians in 1938]”. Flag protocols set out by the Commonwealth and followed by the shire prevent the Australian national flag being flown at half-mast on Australia Day. However, the shire’s flag rules allow the Aboriginal flag to be flown at half-mast as a sign of mourning after the death of a local Aboriginal elder or significant person within the community. Commonwealth rules state that “where one flag is flown at half-mast, the other flags should also be flown at half-mast as a sign of respect”. Shire officers in the agenda for the public meeting on Tuesday 14 December, said the Aboriginal flag can be flown at half-mast on 26 January but “in doing so will need to retain the national flag at full-mast, contrary to the advice of the Commonwealth flag master”. The officers said a decision to fly the Aboriginal flag at half-mast has “no apparent legal implications”. Background on the agenda to Cr
ONE of the differences at next year’s Australia Day celebrations on the Mornington Peninsula could see the Aboriginal flag flown at half-mast.
Race’s move to lower the Aboriginal flag mentions council’s reconciliation action plan “to walk together with courage to understand, respect, value and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, arts and cultures as part of the intrinsic identity of the Mornington Peninsula for the benefit of the whole community”. No mention is made of the Torres Strait islands flag being flown at halfmast or top of the mast on Australia Day. Keith Platt
Grassfires move so quickly, it’s impossible to outrun them. This summer, significant pasture growth in paddocks and roadsides means that fast-moving grassfires will be a serious risk across Victoria. Rural grassfires can be just as dangerous as bushfires, and can actually spread even faster, travelling at speeds of up to 25km/h. If you live close to open paddocks or grasslands, you could be at risk and need to be prepared. On high-risk Fire Danger Rated days, the safest option is to leave early.
Plan. Act. Survive. Go to vic.gov.au/knowfire
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Mornington News
14 December 2021
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